Leather printing and tipping machine



April 12, 193,

P. DORNBUSCH LEATHER PRINTING AND TIPPING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed June 29, 1935 I We as b F3 35 'INVENTOR. Wm Domuscn BY 3 a M TTORNEY.

April 12, 193 P. DORNBUSCH LEATHER PRINTING AND TIPPING MACHINE Original Filed June' 29, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 T. V, B O w W T 0 A D L U 5 M av a Aw i 33 m Bm wN km in Patented Apr. 12, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT orries LEATHER PRINTING AND! TIPPING MACHINE Paul Dornbuseh,

Krefeld, Germany 8 Claims.

This is a divisional application of my application for United States Letters Patent, filed on June 29, 1935, Serial No. 29,089 granted on October 20, 1936 as Patent No. 2,058,006.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in methods and devices for printing and tipping whole hides.

More particularly, the invention proposes a method characterized by continuously passing a Web of paper or other similar carrier material, between a printing drum and a printing cylinder, and feeding or supporting whole hides on said web to pass between the printing drum and the printing cylinder so as to be printed.

A feature of the invention resides in the fact that the continuously passing web normally protects the printing drum from the printing cylinder at areas between or to the sides of the hides.

A further object of the invention is to tension the whole hides as they are passed between the printing drum and the printing cylinder so as to hold them smooth during the printing operation.

Still further, the invention contemplates the construction of a device or machine which is adapted to print whole hides and which is also capable of applying secondary colors upon the hides. In all old methods and devices for printing whole hides it has been customary to apply secondary colors by hand.

Still further, the invention also proposes the construction of a controlled ink supply device which has a doctor blade engaging across the printing cylinder and arranged to substantially form one side of a pan for holding and directing the ink on the printing cylinder. Furthermore, an arrangement is proposed for oscillating said doctor blade to more evenly distribute the ink, and to maintain the straight edge of the doctor blade by more even Wear thereof.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a machine as mentioned which is characterized by a frame, a printing drum mounted on the frame, a printing cylinder adjustably mounted on the frame and adapted to cooperate with the printing drum to print hides passed therebetween, a controlled ink supply for the printing cylinder, and a hide carrying agent for carrying hides between the printing drum and printing cylinder, and adapted to protect the printing drum from ink when a hide passes out from between the printing drum and printing cylinder.

A feature of the machine is that the printing cylinder may be of various types, such as the surface printing type, 'or of the intaglio type. It may be photoengraved, milled, or may be master die. The printing cylinder may be adapted to apply secondary colors on raised portions of the hide (tipping). It may be a screen cylinder.

Another object of the invention is the con struction of a device as described which is simple and durable and which may be manufactured and sold at a reasonable cost.

For further comprehension of the invention, and of the objects and advantages thereof, reference will be had to the following description and accompanying drawings, and t0 the appended claims in which the various novel features are more particularly set forth.

In the accompanying drawings forming a mate- 7 rial part of this disclosure:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a device constructed according to this invention.

Fig. 2 is an end elevational view of Fig. 1 looking from the right hand end.

Fig. 3 is a front elevational view of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of a portion of the adjusting screw which controls the pressure of the doctor blade.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 2.

The leather printing and tipping machine, according to this invention, comprises a frame consisting of side portions Illa and lfib held in fixed spaced positions by several tie rods I00. A printing drum I I is mounted in bearings; i2 on side portions of the frame members 10a and i019. The arrangement is such that reduced ends of the drum H merely rest upon the bearings i2, which are semi-cylindrical, so that the drum may be lifted out of the machine when desired. The printing drum H is held against normal displacement by a printing cylinder l3 which has reduced ends supported in bearings M located vertically above the bearings H2. The bearings M are adjustably mounted on the side. members 10a and 10b of the frame and are held in adjusted positions by several vertical screws it which threadedly engage through the upper ends of the side members Illa and lilb' of the frame.

The free ends of the screws l5 are provided with handles l5a by which they may be easily turned. The lower ends of the screws rotatively connect with the housings of the bearings l6 so that when the screws are rotated the bearings i i move vertically upwards or downwards.

The base ends I4 of the housings of the bearings engage in vertical grooves IQ of the frame to firmly guide the bearings in their movements to the various adjusted positions. The screws 15 also serve as a means for controlling the space between the printing cylinder and the printing drum. Furthermore, they provide for the control of the pressure between these parts, or elements and materials passed through these parts, during the operation of the machine.

The printing cylinder 53 is engraved, or in any other manner formed with a printing design or pattern. A controlled ink supply is associated with the printing cylinder E3 and comprises, essentially, a doctor blade i5 mounted upon a flat body I! which is extended at an angle to one side of the printing cylinder, in which the ink may be placed. The ends of this space are closed by end pieces E8. The edge of the doctor blade I6 which engages against the printing cylinder is very sharp and straight so that there is a fine supply of ink. A means is provided for holding the doctor blade 55 in various positions and comprises several adjusting screws i9 rotatively connected with the doctor blade and threadedly engaged through bushings 26 upon the flat body ll. These screws are provided with handles it by which they may be conveniently turned. At the ends, the flat body ii is formed with lugs 22 upon which the end pieces 58 are attached by screws 23. The end pieces it have arcuate shaped portions of felt material or similar material (indicated by reference numerals 24) engaging against the side of extension portions of the printing cylinder.

The flat body H is swivelly and adjustably held so that the edge of the doctor blade may be engaged against the side of the printing cylinder under suitable pressure. More particularly, the fiat body W has offset bosses 25 at its ends from which the offset studs 25a project. The studs 26a connect with returning portions 27b on which there is a trunnion 25. This trunnion engages in bearings 210 which are adjustably mounted upon the side members We and it?) of the frame. Arms 2'! are attached fixedly on the blocks 2') and extend over the printing cylinder. The latter ends of the arms 2'! are of fork shape (see Fig. 4) and support bushings 28. These bushings are pivotally supported by a trunnion 29 engaging the arms of the fork. An adjustment screw 38 threadedly engages through each bushing. Handles 3! are mounted upon the top ends of the adjustment screws by which they may be turned. Blocks 32 are rotatively mounted upon the bottom ends of the screws and have bottom faces which are in intimate contact with reduced ends E30. of the printing cylinder.

A mechanism is provided for oscillating the flat body H to oscillate the doctor blade i6, and

comprises an arm 3 fixedly mounted on an ex- 7 tended end of one of the elements of the trunnion 25. This arm 34 has a slot 34' in its end. This slot engages a circular cam disc 35 mounted upon one end of the printing cylinder iii. The cam disc 35 may be clearly seen in Fig. 2 to be a flat disc arranged at an inclination, and it will be understood that as the disc is turned the trunnion element 25 will be oscillated. Of course, the oscillation includes the flat body ii and the doctor blade H3.

The bearings 210 are adapted to be horizontally adjusted. These bearings are slidably mounted upon brackets 23a, which in turn are fixedly mounted on the side members of the frame. Screws 3? are threadedly engaged through portions of the brackets 21a and rotatively connect with the bearings 270 so that when the screws are turned the bearings move horizontally forwards or rearwards. The

screws 31 are provided with handles 31' by which they may be conveniently turned.

A hide carrying agent in the form of a web 40 is adapted for carrying hides between the printing cylinder and the printed drum, and to simultaneously protect the printing drum from ink from the printing cylinder at spaces which are not covered by the hides. The web 49 is part of a roll 40a of sheet material mounted upon the front of the machine and connecting with a roll 40?) mounted upon the back of the machine. The rolls 46a and 45b of sheet material are mounted upon shafts 4i and 42 respectively. These shafts have intermediate portions with cone-shaped members 43 thereon to facilitate holding the rolls.

The shafts 4| and 42 have reduced ends 4! and 42 respectively, which engage in bearings 44 mounted on the side members of the frame. The shaft 4| is adapted to be restrained or braked to prevent the material from the rolls unwinding too rapidly and is also equipped to be adjusted to obtain true unwinding. A gear 45 is mounted upon one end of the shaft 4! and meshes with a pinion 46 mounted upon a drum 4'! of a brake which includes brake bands 48 controlled by an adjusting screw 49. Further details of the brake will not be given in this specification as it forms no part of the invention and brakes of this type are generally known. The screw 49 may be turned in one direction or the other to tighten or loosen the brake which restrains the rolls 40a from unwinding too rapidly. The other end of the shaft 4!, which is supported by the bearing 44 is adjustable in a horizontal direction. The bearing 44 is adjustably mounted on a bracket 50 mounted on the side member of the frame. A screw 5| threadedly engages the bracket and rotatively engages the bearing so that the bearing may be adjusted horizontally.

A means is provided for driving and controlling the machine. This means consists of a pulley 52 freely rotative on a stud shaft 52a rotative on the side member Illa of the frame. A coupling is associated with the stud shaft 520/. and the pulley 52 for coupling these parts together. This coupling comprises a screw 53 adjustably mounted on a member 54 adapted to engage a cone-shaped member 55 spliced on the stud shaft 520. to transmit rotations. The cone-shaped member 55 has a grooved end 55' which is engaged by a lug 56 from a control handle 51. This control handle is pivotally mounted intermediate of its ends by a bolt 58 upon a support rod 59 mounted on the side member of the frame. The lever 51 may be pivoted from either end, that is, the front or the back of the machine to engage or disengage the clutch. A gear '66 is mounted upon the stud shaft 52a. and meshes with a gear 6! rotatively supported on the side member Ida of the frame. This gear 6! is coaxially connected with a sprocket B2 and a pinion 63. The pinion 63 meshes with a large gear 64 fixed on the end of the printing drum 1 I. The sprockets 63 connects with a chain which connects with another sprocket 66 also mounted on the side member Hla of the frame. The sprocket 65 is fixed coaxially with a small gear 51 meshing with a gear 58 fixed upon the shaft 42. Thus, the shaft 42 is driven to wind on the web drawn off from the roll4lla. The far end of the printing drum H is equipped with a gear 6! meshing with a gear 50 on the far end of the printing drum H3.

The web 49 is arranged at an inclination relative to the printing cylinder and the printing drum so that a hide may be placed thereon and be frictionally maintained in relative position and be passed through between the printing cylinder and the printing drum to be printed. In Fig. 1 a hide H3 is shown resting upon the web 4i?! and being drawn through the printing machine. A tensioning device is provided for smoothing out the hide. This device consists of a frame composed of several parallel bars Ida, 72b, 720, which are supported at their ends upon side arms l3. This frame has a trunnion M, the elements or" which rotatively engage in bearings 15 supported upon the side members of the frame. The web is laced between the bars 12a, 12b and 120, as clearly indicated in Fig. 2.

The operation of the device is as follows:

A prime mover is connected with the pulley 52. Rotations from the pulley 52 are transmitted to the printing drum l l and to the gear ii i the gear 60' and the printing cylinder H3. The gear 6i! meshes with the gear 62' so that the printing drum rotates simultaneously with the rotation of the printing cylinder. If it is desired, the gears 60' and 6! may havetheir pitch diameters differing slightly the diameter of the printing cylinder and the printing drum so that the peripheral speeds of the rotating printing cylinder and printing drum at the contact areas are slightly different. This produces friction or pull on the material (the web) so that the design has a blur on it. If it is. desired to print without the blur (producing a different pattern) it is merely necessary to have the gears 66' and 65 l of the correct size to produce non-friction rotation of the printing cylinder and the printing drum.

The rotations from the pulley 52 are transmitted to unwind the web 40 from the roll Mia and to wind this web on the roll dill); The web ll! serves to protect the printing drum from ink from the printing cylinder at areas not protected by the hide (see Fig. 1). Furthermore, the web lti acts as a carrying agent for the hide to carry the hide between the printing cylinder and the printing drum, The printed hide will be discharged at the back of the machine. When the complete web has been wound upon the roll Mb, it is in t-erchanged with the roll l-lia. The gear 68 will then be in the position of the gear 35 and mesh with the small gear 46 of the braking device.

The cam 35 will oscillate the flat body I? and the parts carried by the fiat body. These parts include the doctor blade i6 and the end closures I8. Thus, the ink carried by the ink pan composed of the doctor blade and the end closures will be oscillated. The felt portions 2% will ride back and forth along smooth ends l3 of the printing cylinder. The ends l8 have extending portions l8 which may be used as handles for holding the ink control device when it is placed upon and removed from the machine. Since the arms 2? are carried by the blocks 21b, these arms will move along with the oscillating motion previously described. The members 32 will merely slide along the portions 53a of the printing cylinder.

The pressure between the doctor blade and the printing cylinder may be controlled by operation of the handles 3i. As the bushings 28 move up or down upon the screws 39, the doctor blade will tend to pivot about the trunnion 26. This controls the pressure against the printing cylinder. The pressure against the printing cylinder may also be controlled in a horizontal direction by the operation of the screws 31. The screws I 9 are used to properly align the doctor blade upon the printing cylinder. If one end or the other end of the doctor blade needs to be adjusted, one or the other of the screws l9 may be turned to accomplish the adjustment.

While I have illustrated and described my invention with some degree of particularity, I

realize that in practice various alterations therein may be made. I therefore reserve the right and privilege of changing the form of the details of construction or otherwise altering the arrangement of the correlated parts without departing from the spirit or the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by United States Letters Patent is:

1. In a device of the class described, a printing cylinder adjustably mounted on a frame and cocperable with a printing drum to print material passed there between, a controlled ink supply for the printing cylinder comprising a flat body, a doctor blade adjustably mounted upon the body to engage against the printing drum, means for pivotally supporting said body, and an arm connected with the body and adjustably held relative to the printing cylinder for controlling the pressure of the doctor blade against the cylinder, and means for oscillating said fiat body.

2. In a device of class described, a printing cylinder adjustably mounted on a frame and cooperable with a printing drum to print material passed there between, a controlled ink supply for the printing cylinder comprising a flat body, a doctor blade adjustably mounted upon the body to engage against the printing drum, means for pivotally supporting said body, connected with the body and adjustably held relative to the printing cylinder for controlling the pressure of the doctor blade against the cylinder, and means for oscillating said fiat body, comprising a cam engaging a rotating element and cooperating with an arm mounted with the flat body.

3. In a device of the class described, a printing cylinder, a doctor blade engaging said printing cylinder and extending at an angle to the side thereof dividing off a space between these parts, end piece members extending between said doctor blade and said printing cylinder for closing the ends of said space to form a reservoir for holding printing ink for said printing cylinder, and means for reciprocating said doctor blade.

4. In a device of the class described, a printing cylinder, a doctor blade engaging said printing cylinder and extending at an angle to the side thereof dividing ofi a space between these parts, end piece members extending between said doctor blade and said printing cylinder for closing the ends of said space to form a reservoir for holding printing ink for said printing cylinder, and means for reciprocating said doctor blade and end piece members as a unit for maintaining the capacity of said reservoir constant and simultaneously causing the doctor blade to reciprocate relative to said printing cylinder as is required for good operation of the doctor blade.

5. In a device of the class described, a printing cylinder, a body extending longitudinally of said printing cylinder dividing ofi a space with the side of said printing cylinder, end piece members mounted on said body and extending between said body and said printing cylinder for closing the ends of said space, a doctor blade mounted on said body and engaging the side of said printing cylinder and extending between the and an arm body and the printing cylinder for closing the bottom of said space to form a reservoir for holding printing ink for said printing cylinder, and means for reciprocating said body and the parts mounted thereon for maintaining the capacity of said reservoir constant and simultaneously causing the doctor blade to reciprocate relative to the printing cylinder as is required for good operation of the doctor blade.

6. In a device of the class described, a printing cylinder, a body extending longitudinally of said printing cylinder dividing off a space with the side of said printing cylinder, end piece members mounted on said body and extending between said body and said printing cylinder for closing the ends of said space, a doctor blade mounted on said body and engaging the side of said printing cylinder and extending between the body and the printing cylinder for closing the bottom of said space to form a reservoir for holding printing ink for said printing cylinder, and means for reciprocating said body and the parts mounted thereon for maintaining the capacity of said reservoir constant and simultaneously causing the doctor blade to reciprocate relative to the printing cylinder as is required for good operation of the doctor blade, a trunnion for pivotally supporting said body, and means for pivotally adjusting said body for controlling the pressure of said doctor blade against said printing cylinder.

7. In a device of the class described, a printing cylinder, a body extending longitudinally of said printing cylinder dividing off a space with the side of said printing cylinder, end piece members mounted on said body and extending between said body and said printing cylinder for closing the ends of said space, a doctor blade mounted on said body and engaging the side of said printing cylinder and extending between the body and the printing cylinder for closing the bottom of said space to form a reservoir for holding printing ink for said printing cylinder, and means for reciprocating said body and the parts mounted thereon for maintaining the capacity of said reservoir constant and simultaneously causing the doctor blade to reciprocate relative to the printing cylinder as is required for good operation of the doctor blade, a trunnion for pivotally supporting said body, and means for pivotally adjusting said body for controlling the pressure of said doctor blade against said printing cylinder, comprising a radial arm secured on said body, a bushing swivelly mounted on said radial arm, a screw threadedly engaging through said bushing, and a block removably mounted on said screw and bearing against a portion of said printing cylinder.

8. In a device of the class described, a printing cylinder, a body extending longitudinally of said printing cylinder dividing off a space with the side of said printing cylinder, end piece members mounted on said body and extending between said body and said printing cylinder for closing the ends of said space, a doctor blade mounted on said body and engaging the side of said printing cylinder and extending between the body and the printing cylinder for closing the bottom of said space to form a reservoir for holding printing ink for said printing cylinder, and means for reciprocating said body and the parts mounted thereon for maintaining the capacity of said reservoir constant and simultaneously causing the doctor blade to reciprocate relative to the printing cylinder as is required for good operation of the doctor blade, a trunnion for pivotally supporting said body, and means for pivotally adjusting said body for controlling the pressure of said doctor blade against said printing cylinder, comprising a radial arm secured on said body, a bushing swivelly mounted on said radial arm, a screw threadedly engaging through said bushing, and a block removably mounted on said screw and bearing against a portion of said printing cylinder; the end of said block which bears against said printing cylinder being of arcuate shape to fit the contour of the printing cylinder and being slidable along the longitudinal length of the printing cylinder.

PAUL DORNBUSCI-I. 

